Barbara Millicent Roberts | Fictspedia Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Add Image Barbara Millicent Roberts aka Barbie is quite possibly the most revolutionary women in history. Born under somewhat salacious conditions, Barbie has become the symbol of the modern women across the world. Bravely becoming a public figure that embraced her independence and sexuality, she broke every social convention. Rejecting the idea that women only could become wives and mothers, Barbie accomplished many different professions, including a pilot 's license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant , owning her own home, driving around without a man, and quickly became the ultimate style icon. Barbie's careers are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life, all while being arguably the most beautiful women in the world. Here is the story of Barbie. Biography: Born in March 9, 1959, Barbie is rumored to be a related to the scandalous German, Bild Lilli. Lilli was a blonde bombshell, and a working girl who knew what she wanted and was not above using men to get it.

She was the muse of famed newspaper journalist Reinhard Beuthin, who wrote for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. She inspired many columns, articles, and comics. Barbie was born to Ruth Handler, who was married to Elliot Handler, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company, and engineer Jack Ryan . The fact that Barbie was born from an affair was shocking and uncommon in the 1950’s. The couple made their debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday. In 1964, Ruth Handler and Jack Ryan ended their affair. Ruth returned to her stranded husband Elliot. Elliot adopted Barbie the same year. She began working for her Dad at the Mattel toy company. While there, she started working as a model, and made her first cover story as wearing a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail , shot as a "Teen-age Fashion Model.” Her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson specifically for her. Barbie was a success. She was so popular that the Mattel Toy Company created a toy after her.

They named it Barbie, and made it to look just like her. The first Barbie dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers . Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production. Ruth Handler believed that it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance. She encouraged Barbie to embrace her womanhood. She continued modeling, and was one of the first women to openly have plastic surgery. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971 when the eyes were adjusted to look forwards rather than having the demure sideways glance, and several breast augmentations. Barbie hit superstardom. She used her star power to launch a range of products including: a range of dolls with their clothes and accessories, books, apparel, cosmetics and video games. Barbie has appeared in a series of animated films and is a supporting character in Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. Inspired a series of novels published by Random House in the 1960s, Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world.

In 1974, a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week. In 1985, the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie. Her personal live has been as equally adventurous as her professional one. She was always the center of attention and controversy. She finally met her match in 1961 in Ken Carson. Equally as successful and adventurous, their on-and-off relationship lasted until 2004, when she had a very public affair with famed Australian surfer Blaine Smith. The affair fizzled, and in 2006, Barbie and Ken rekindled their relationship. They are still together. Although they have never been married, nor had any children, Barbie is an active animal rights activist. Over the years, Barbie has adopted over 40 pets including cats and dogs, horses, a panda , a lion cub, and a zebra In 2009, Barbie celebrated her 50th birthday. The celebrations included a runway show in New York for the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week .

The event showcased fashions contributed by fifty well-known haute couturiers including Diane von Fürstenberg , Vera Wang , Calvin Klein , Bob Mackie , and Christian Louboutin . Barbie has been innovative and inspiring for over 50 years, and she has never looked be better. 16:53, October 29, 2012 (UTC)16:53, October 29, 2012 (UTC)16:53, October 29, 2012 (UTC)~Candace Crowhurst Barbie makes her debut - Mar 09, 1959 - HISTORY.com Barbie makes her debut Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1959, the first Barbie doll goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945.

After seeing her young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls to imagine the future. Barbie’s appearance was modeled on a doll named Lilli, based on a German comic strip character. Originally marketed as a racy gag gift to adult men in tobacco shops, the Lilli doll later became extremely popular with children. Mattel bought the rights to Lilli and made its own version, which Handler named after her daughter, Barbara. With its sponsorship of the “Mickey Mouse Club” TV program in 1955, Mattel became the first toy company to broadcast commercials to children. They used this medium to promote their new toy, and by 1961, the enormous consumer demand for the doll led Mattel to release a boyfriend for Barbie. Handler named him Ken, after her son. Barbie’s best friend, Midge, came out in 1963; her little sister, Skipper, debuted the following year. Over the years, Barbie generated huge sales–and a lot of controversy.

On the positive side, many women saw Barbie as providing an alternative to traditional 1950s gender roles. She has had a series of different jobs, from airline stewardess, doctor, pilot and astronaut to Olympic athlete and even U.S. presidential candidate. Others thought Barbie’s never-ending supply of designer outfits, cars and “Dream Houses” encouraged kids to be materialistic. It was Barbie’s appearance that caused the most controversy, however. Her tiny waist and enormous breasts–it was estimated that if she were a real woman, her measurements would be 36-18-38–led many to claim that Barbie provided little girls with an unrealistic and harmful example and fostered negative body image. Despite the criticism, sales of Barbie-related merchandise continued to soar, topping 1 billion dollars annually by 1993. Since 1959, more than 800 million dolls in the Barbie family have been sold around the world and Barbie is now a bona fide global icon.

More on This Topic Celebrate 50 years of Barbie | WatchMojo.com Celebrate 50 years of Barbie in: hosted by Rebecca Brayton In this video we look at Barbie's life, from her debut at the 1959 International Toy Fair, to her introduction to Ken Carson, her first car in 1962 and her 2004 Valentine's Day breakup with Ken, we look at everything that made Barbie, aka Barbara Millicent Roberts the most successful doll ever. China: The next superconsumer? | World news | The Guardian China China: The next superconsumer? With the US sinking in debt, the world's biggest corporations are targeting China. And Shanghai is their beachhead… People walk past a huge luggage-like advertisement for Louis Vuitton in Shanghai, China. Photograph: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko Friday 25 June 2010 19.02 EDT First published on Friday 25 June 2010 19.02 EDT Share on Messenger Close The resident of 550 Huaihai Road in Shanghai is a rather unusual migrant.

Born in Wisconsin on 9 March 1959, Barbara Millicent Roberts is the world's most famous supermodel. She drives a Corvette convertible , owns a dream home with a pool, parties with jocks and adores shopping. In the US, she was a prom queen and a role model. In China, she is emerging as an ambassador for consumer culture. Better known as Barbie , this 30cm-tall icon was first sold in China in the early 1990s, but it was not until 2009 that she was given her own home in the retail heartland of Shanghai. Mattel , the world's biggest toy company, marked her 50th birthday by opening the planet's largest Barbie emporium. Covered in pink plastic, the six-storey doll's house on Huaihai Road became an instant landmark. Martial arts star Jet Li and the actor Christy Chung were among the celebrities at its launch. This was more than a party; it was the start of a marketing campaign aimed at prolonging and expanding the lifestyle championed by the toy firm.

For the Barbie market to continue to grow for another 50 years, the doll would have to make it big in China. When I lunch at Barbie's place, in the fantastically kitsch restaurant with a menu devised by chef David Laris , it doesn't seem to be hugely popular. Along with Barbie™ burgers with Barbie™ pink sauce, Ken burgers, pinktastic pasta, doll-icious desserts and Barbie™ tini cocktails, the restaurant boasts generous promotional offers: those opting for the special meal receive a boxed set of Barbie plates and cutlery to take away. I ask Liu Yunting, who works for an advertising company, what she plans to do with her new tableware. "I will use it myself," she says. Isn't it a little childish? "Not at all. It is cute. This is much better than the stuff for children. We know better how to appreciate it." Liu is a member of the fastest-growing consumer class: single women – or xiaobailing (white-collar princesses). They have high levels of disposable income and a craving for designer labels. For marketing moguls, they are the future face of consumer power. State planners forecast that half the population will be middle class by 2020.

Until recently, China was living within the planet's means. If everyone in the world consumed what the average Mr or Mrs Wang did in 2007, we'd just about stay within the sustainable resources of our planet. Humanity would have a balanced ecological budget. But, understandably, Mr and Mrs Wang wanted to keep up with Mr and Mrs Jones on the other side of the Pacific. That was human nature. It was also bad news for the environment, because if we all ate, shopped and travelled like those average Americans, we'd need 4.5 Earths . A mall in Xujiahui, Shanghai. Photograph: /Reuters In recent years, the planet's largest corporations have become dependent on the Wangs catching up with the Joneses. The US had shopped until its economy dropped. Sinking in debt, plagued by obesity and increasingly dependent on military might to protect its lifestyle, the world's superconsumer was groaning with indigestion. Europe was too decrepit and conservative to take up the slack, so global manufacturers, retailers and restaurant chains were desperate to stimulate the Chinese appetite. Shanghai was their beachhead.

While information firms and political lobbyists headed to Beijing and manufacturers flocked to Guangzhou, retail giants almost invariably chose Shanghai for their China headquarters and their first showrooms. From Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's and Starbucks to Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel, international brands made the city a giant shopping mall. Shanghai became the biggest, richest, most globalised mass of modernity in China , home to the most luxurious boutiques, the tallest buildings, the nation's first formula one track, the biggest auto companies, the second busiest port in the world and a gathering horde of international salesmen trying to sell the American consumer lifestyle. Chinese consumers have never had more options. America's Wal-Mart, France's Carrefour, Britain's Tesco and Japan's Ito Yokado are expanding in China faster than in any other country. Each year, they open hundreds of new stores in the expectation that demand will surge as more rural migrants move into cities and work their way into the middle class. Young urbanites are becoming as enthusiastic about french fries, burgers and fried chicken as their counterparts in New York or London.

When the first KFC opened near Tiananmen Square in 1987, it was seen as a novel western dining experience; 20 years later, the company has 2,000 outlets in 400 cities, employing 200,000 people, making it easily the biggest restaurant chain in China. In roughly the same period, McDonald's had grown from one restaurant to 800. Along with the changing diet came a surge in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Obese children used to be rare in China; now nearly 15% of the population is overweight . Shanghai is often cited as the worst affected city. Barbie™ burgers and the like are part of an increasingly carnivorous diet. To feed its growing livestock, China imports huge quantities of soya, much of it from Brazil, which has resulted in accelerated clearance of Amazonian forest and Cerrado savanna. Like many other wealthy cities, the high-protein, high-octane, jet-set lifestyle is being paid for elsewhere. I meet my guide, Emily Zhang Huijia, a connoisseur of consumption, outside number 18 the Bund .

Once the China HQ of Standard Chartered Bank, the Bund is now a centre for shopping, eating and clubbing. Emily is its PR manager. A fashionista since her teens, she has worked for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel, and says she was brought up on Vogue, Glamour and OK! magazines. By western standards, her childhood was not privileged. In 1985, when she was three, her family got its first colour television. In 1992, around the time the first Barbies went on sale in China, they bought their first air-conditioner; so did everyone in the neighbourhood. The Zhangs had their first fixed phone line installed when Emily was six. By the time she was 16, they were connected to the internet. My family in the UK had a phone three generations before Emily's, but her parents went online four years earlier than mine.

By 2006, the average person in Shanghai owned two mobile phones, 1.7 air-conditioners, 1.7 colour television sets, more than one fridge and spent 14,761 yuan a year (around £1,455), some 70% more than the rest of the country. They use almost twice as much toilet paper as the average in developed nations and have a bigger carbon footprint than people in the UK. The city is consuming beyond the planet's means, and its appetite is growing by the day. By the time Emily's generation were earning a salary, they could afford more than the essentials; they could buy style. "I'm a Shanghai girl," she says. "We don't earn so much, but we see luxury brands every day. We don't want to buy anything else." Most of her friends are in the industry and they share information about discounts and sample sales. At her first sale, she blew a third of her salary on Fendi sunglasses. "It is like a fever," she says. "The price is so low, you cannot refuse." Like many a proud shopper, Emily lists how much she saved rather than how much she spent.

She is wearing a half-price Dior watch reduced by 2,900 yuan (£286). In her 40 sq m flat near Fuxing Park, she has dozens of other bags, accessories and clothes, including an Armani coat for 999 yuan (£98), discounted from 9,900 (£976). Compared with friends, she says, she is restrained. In the last three years, Emily's monthly salary has increased from 3,000 yuan to just under 20,000, putting her firmly in the middle-class bracket. She eats at restaurants at weekends, has a French boyfriend, plays poker every Thursday. Business and pleasure are mixed. Her favourite after-hours hangout, she says, is the building where she works. "Bund 18 has the coolest nightclub in Shanghai, so it's probably also the coolest in China." We agree to meet there again at midnight. After dark, the Bund's spotlit neoclassical pillars and low-rise architecture are reminiscent of London.

On the other side of the Huangpu river , however, the futuristic Pudong skyline rises higher than almost anywhere on Earth, including one of the world's tallest buildings, the 492m bottle opener-shaped Shanghai World Financial Centre . Twenty years ago, most of Pudong was farmland. Today, it pulsates with light and colour. The crowd in the club is made up mostly of expat western men and their Chinese girlfriends. In the cigar lounge, Emily introduces me to a French food and beverage manager, Julian Desmettre, who describes how the nouveau riche from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore have made the city their playground: "Shanghai is like Paris during la belle époque. This is the city of wealth and style, where people must show their money, where they are judged by how they dress, where they look down on those with less than themselves." Julian arrived in Shanghai as a student eight years ago with 5,000 yuan in his pocket. Now, he has on his wrist an Omega watch worth six times that amount. "My life here is better than in France. I have a big apartment, a cleaner, a compound with a pool and a gym.

It is so comfortable, it is almost too much." Most revellers in the lounge are European. "Where can I meet Chinese partygoers?" I ask Emily, but she is reluctant to recommend anywhere: "There are clubs, but they are the type of place you'd find in a second-tier city. The music and decor are not as good, but Chinese men prefer them because they don't want to be near foreigners. Chinese women are different. They are more open. They go where the quality is." Wandering around local bars and restaurants, I meet bar owners who organise prostitutes for customers and set up trips to karaoke parlours, where hostesses strip off to sing. Shanghai seems to be emulating the consumer sex industry of Tokyo; the hostess bar scene is reminiscent of Japan at the height of its "bubble economy". The next day, Emily introduces me to Cindy Tai, the head of a marketing agency and former head of EMI Music in China, who helped organise the first Rolling Stones concert in Shanghai . As a child during the Cultural Revolution , Cindy and her academic parents were sent from Shanghai to a farm on the nearby island of Chongming . "We had enough to eat, but nothing to spare.

We were very happy if we got a little meat on the table once a week. My parents suffered. I vowed that one day I would buy them whatever they wanted." She has achieved that ambition; now, her dream is "to create an organic farm. I'd like to grow fruit, vegetables and rice, raise pigs and chickens. And to have a helicopter, because the traffic is so bad." But like many affluent consumers around the world, Cindy's environmentalism seems selective. She has blueberries delivered from an organic farm, baguettes from a French bakery in Xintiandi and olive oil from Italy. She eats out at least once a day, and at one point she and her French husband had four cars: a BMW, an MG and two Mercs. Now they have two; a sign, she says, of their increasing concern for the planet. Later, however, she reveals that her interest has switched to yachts. One is moored near their second home in Cannes. She may yet get another luxury car. Cindy is a member of the Shanghai Porsche club, mainly to keep up with her friends, and has been invited to an awards ceremony hosted by Jaguar. I shamelessly ask if I can come along.

The venue for the Jaguar Gorgeous Award Party is a renovated mansion off Huaihai Road, a few minutes' walk from the Barbie store. In cocktail dresses and designer suits, guests sip wine in the courtyard, where they are treated to a sales pitch for the new 5-litre XKR : "It is a wow car!" gushes a PR lady who introduces herself by her westernised name, Seraph. I am sceptical: "But you can barely move in Shanghai's traffic. Why would anyone want such a huge engine?" "Rich people never take the subway," Seraph replies. "Even if the traffic is bad, they need a car. Jaguar is nothing but gorgeous and beautiful." In the five years to 2009, sales of luxury cars in China rose five-fold, de luxe villas seven-fold and luxury goods tripled. This was just the start of a spending splurge: the number of wealthy households is forecast to double again by 2015.

Earthwatch Institute estimates that if China's 1.3 billion people were to consume at the same rate as Americans, global production of steel, paper and cars would have to double, oil output would need to rise by 20m barrels a day and miners would have to dig an extra 5bn tons of coal. If it followed the US appetite, China would chew its way through 80% of current meat production and two-thirds of the global grain harvest. "China is telescoping history," says Lester Brown, president of Earthwatch. "It forces us to focus on what happens when huge numbers of low-income people rise rapidly in affluence. Chinese consumption shows the need to reconstruct the world economy." Instead of relying on an ever greater consumption of resources to generate growth, Brown says mankind needs to move to a fairer, more sustainable model. Yet the opposite seems to be happening. Global corporations and the communist government are trying to make China the greatest shopper of them all. In Shanghai, that goal is already being realised. By one estimate, the average carbon dioxide emissions of its residents have already overtaken those in Tokyo, New York and London.

If there is a glimmer of environmental hope, it is that even in Shanghai people have not yet fully embraced western levels of throwaway consumption. Many still prefer flasks of hot tea to cans of Coke, and in the supermarkets the average basket of goods is smaller than in the west and profit margins are lower. This thrift is not inspired by environmental concerns, but by a traditional desire to live within one's means. Even so, the rest of the country has some way to go to catch up with Shanghai, which is what the government wants. This will require a great deal more energy and raw materials. To provide everyone with a Shanghai lifestyle, factories will need to churn out an extra 159 million refrigerators, 213 million televisions, 233 million computers, 166 million microwave ovens, 260 million air-conditioners and 187 million cars. The retail market, meanwhile, is becoming less diverse the bigger it grows. Paul French, a Shanghai-based marketing consultant, says the problem is that the shopping malls designed to create the image of a good life do not reflect reality for most people: "They are building more and more malls filled with luxury brands.

Like the power stations in Soviet-era Russia, they are being built not because of demand but because of prestige. Every official in China wants one to show their city is on the international map." These emporiums are designed to generate desire, not meet needs. Many are dismissed by locals as gui gouwu zhongxin (ghost malls) because they attract so few customers. Yet in Shanghai they are everywhere. Xujiahui intersection , for example, is ringed by six department stores. Among them is the Orient Shopping Mall, boasting Estée Lauder cosmetics, Rolex watches, Cartier pens and Dior lipstick. Passing through the revolving door one weekday morning, I see not a single customer. Not even a window shopper. This is an edited extract from When A Billion Chinese Jump by Jonathan Watts, published by Faber in July, at £14.99. To order a copy for £9.99, go to guardianbooks.co.uk or call 0330 333 6846. Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm have been huge TV hits and made him millions. Now he's starring in the new Woody Allen film. So what has Larry David got to complain about?

Quite a bit, actually, finds Oliver Burkeman Published: 25 Jun 2010 After a spell in prison for stealing 400 balloons, 19-year-old Alfie Brooks is determined not to go back. But with no job, no home and no qualifications, what are the chances of turning his life around? By Amelia Gentleman Published: 25 Jun 2010 When petty crime landed Alfie Brooks in jail, he was determined never to go back. Photographer Tom Wichelow follows him ­over a critical year in his life Published: 25 Jun 2010 Victor LaValle: 'I was kind of a catch. And I knew this was true. As long as you couldn't see me' Published: 25 Jun 2010 10 Collectible Barbie Dolls Inspired by Nursing - Nursing School Hub Nursing School Hub What are you searching for? Close Search Image Source Barbara Millicent Roberts, better known as Barbie, first appeared to the public at the 1959 New York Toy Fair. Since then, Mattel’s iconic doll has embarked on over 130 careers as everything from a lifeguard to a paratrooper.

Of course, such a range of professions increases the toy company’s marketing scope when it comes to clothing and accessories (not to mention the figures themselves), but the doll’s diversity also represents a variety of aspirational ideals for young girls. “Barbie has always represented that a woman has choices,” explains creator Ruth Handler. And nursing is one of the earliest careers at which Barbie tried her plastic hand: Registered Nurse Barbie was released in 1961. What’s more, over the years various Barbie figures have followed suit – adding to the representation of nurses in popular culture – and some of these toys have gone on to become valuable collector’s items. Read on for the 10 coolest Barbie dolls inspired by nursing. 10. Registered Nurse Barbie (1961) Image Source Registered Nurse Barbie first appeared in 1961, just two years after Barbie was introduced at the New York Toy Fair. The doll showcases Barbie dressed in a then-contemporary nursing outfit, complete with a classic white uniform, a red lined navy cape, and a white nurse’s cap. However, one registered nurse has pointed out that the doll’s white heels aren’t as authentic. According to her, “hard soled nursing shoes” were more the order of the day.

“And they better [have been] polished!” she added. The figure also displays the trademark sideways glance Barbie dolls featured until 1971. This version was re-released in 2010 as a collector’s edition (see entry four). 9. Nurse Julia (1969) Image Source In 1955, Elizabeth Lipford Kent entered the history books as the first African American to be awarded a PhD in nursing. And in 1968, NBC sitcom Julia became one of the first weekly television shows to portray an African American female in a non-stereotypical role. Diahann Carroll played widowed single mom and nurse Julia Baker from 1968 to 1971, and in 1969, Carroll’s character became a Celebrity Barbie Doll – one of the first in the series. Mattel released five different outfits for Julia, and of course she was also able to wear all of the regular Barbie clothes as well. While the character Julia Baker is said to have “challenged stereotypes and changed perceptions,” the first African American doll in the wider Barbie range didn’t appear until 1980.

However, the importance of the Julia model was celebrated again when Mattel issued a reproduction of the doll in 2009 (see entry three). 8. Nurse Whitney (1987) Image Source Whitney may have only appeared as one of Barbie’s “Barbie-sized female friends” for a couple of years in the late 1980s, but the actual figure itself has more of a historical back-story. The Whitney doll used the head mold of Barbie’s friend Steffie, which was introduced in 1972 and has been described as having one of the most attractive faces across the entire Barbie range. Mattel only ever released three Steffie dolls (all in 1972), but the Steffie face has become hugely popular among Barbie collectors. The mold has also been used for an array of ethnicities in the regular Barbie range. Although Whitney managed to become a nurse in 1987 – complementing doctor dolls of both Barbie and Ken – Steffie herself never achieved the same goal. Still, this hasn’t stopped sellers from using Steffie as a model for Barbie nursing uniforms online. 7.

Civil War Nurse Barbie (1996) Image Source “Travel to the battle at Gettysburg as Barbie,” reads the promotional line for Civil War Nurse Barbie. The doll is part of Mattel’s American Stories Collection, which was released in the 1990s and features a series of eight dolls reflecting early American history. Civil War Nurse Barbie showcases an authentic-looking white and blue striped dress, a white apron, a cape coat and a medical bag. The doll is also accompanied by a storybook to teach children about life during the Civil War period. The figures in the American Stories Series have been described as some of the best quality Barbie dolls ever made. However, perhaps because young girls and collectors regarded the series as quite modest-seeming on the whole, it concluded after three years with the colorful and ornate Patriot Barbie, complete with white-feathered hat, gold-trimmed outfit and a miniature gold Liberty Bell. 6. The Nurse (2006) Image Source Introduced in 2000 and still in production today, Silkstone Barbie Dolls get their name from the fact that their hard plastic construction resembles porcelain. The look of the dolls has made them very popular with vintage Barbie collectors.

Also known as Fashion Model Barbie and Lingerie Model Barbie, the collection spawned a career line, too – including this African American Silkstone Nurse Barbie, released in 2006. A Caucasian colleague was released at the same time as the African American model, and both dolls have neat white-belted dresses, matching caps, navy capes, and white Mary Jane shoes. According to the write-up, the doll “celebrates the working woman.” The African American version is a Barbie Fan Club exclusive and is quite rare these days. Well-known Mattel designer Robert Best created the doll. And Best’s profile was raised even further when he appeared on the third season of Bravo’s Project Runway, also in 2006. 5. Kelly Nurse Doll (2008) Image Source Kelly was launched in the mid 1990s as Barbie’s toddler sister, adding to the original doll’s ever expanding set of family and friends. One Kelly enthusiast, however, notes that there are substantial similarities in body height, appearance and marketing concepts between Kelly and some of the dolls in Mattel’s unrelated “Liddle Kiddles” line, which ran from 1966 to 1971.

Kelly appeared in a variety of guises – ready for the pool, dressed up as an alien for Halloween, and even as Alice in Wonderland – before she was replaced by the Chelsea doll in 2010. This nurse model is part of a line that also depicts Kelly as a jockey, a chef and a ballet dancer. 4. Registered Nurse Barbie Reproduction (2009) Image Source This stylish Registered Nurse Barbie reproduction is a new version of the classic 1961 Registered Nurse Barbie doll, and it was released in December 2009. The doll is part of the My Favorite Barbie series, which was launched in 2009 to celebrate Barbie’s 50th anniversary. The series paid homage to some of Barbie’s iconic career choices over the years. It features a faithful replication of the 1960s nurse’s clothing, and accessories include a hot water bottle, a medicine bottle and spoon, glasses, and a nursing diploma. Judging by online reviews, present-day nurses have received the reproduction positively. One even remembered playing with similar models when she was a child. 3.

Nurse Julia Reproduction (2009) Image Source As another tie-in with Barbie’s 2009 50th anniversary celebration, Mattel reissued its historic Nurse Julia doll. Based on the groundbreaking, stereotype-challenging TV character discussed earlier, the doll is a stylish, lovingly made reproduction of the 1969 Twist ‘n Turn original. Like the 1969 version, the toy features rooted eyelashes and the trademark Twist ‘n Turn waist. The doll was created by designer Bill Greening, who started collecting Barbie figures in 1987 before studying fashion design at California State University, Long Beach. Greening explains, “Barbie was ultra glamorous, the fantasy of the perfect teenage girl.” Greening also recreated Nurse Julia’s vintage outfit, perfectly replicating her elegant looking white uniform and stylish yet practical nurse’s shoes. 2. Barbie I Can Be… Nurse (2012) Image Source The Barbie I Can Be… line is a recently released addition to the Barbie range. As its name suggests, the line aims to promote different careers among young girls.

The Mattel website itself suggests that the I Can Be… dolls can “inspire young minds to dream big.” The site also adds the inspirational message, “Rise to the top of your field, and dream out the kind of life you want to lead. It’s all up to you!” Special-edition Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and African American President Barbie dolls were produced during the 2012 US election period. Mattel’s Vice President of Barbie Brand Marketing in North America Cathy Cline said, “Being President culminates Barbie’s career path. She stands for inspiring girls to be informed and involved in their local communities.” However, Barbie’s customary penchant for “fashion flair” remains – as can be seen from the new nurse model’s stylish and well put-together outfit. 1. Barbie I Can Be… Nurse African American (2012) Image Source The African American version of the 2012 I Can Be… Nurse Barbie doll shows how much times have changed since the first Barbie nurse variant was introduced in the early 1960s.

No longer in possession of a white smock, this doll, like her Caucasian colleague, features a contemporary look of “kid-friendly scrubs.” Accessories include a badge, a stethoscope, an otoscope and a charting book. And as a further concession to the times, a code within each box provides access to special career-themed content on the web that, according to Mattel, “creates a digital destination to further try on the role.” Barbie’s African American friend Nikki also appears as a pediatrician in the I Can Be… line. Barbie Barbie Barbie Barbie is a best-selling doll launched at the American International Toy Fair on March 9, 1959. The doll is produced by Mattel, Inc. Barbie dolls and related accessories are manufactured to approximately 1/6th scale. Barbie Development During the 1950s Ruth Handler, creator of the Barbie doll, noticed that her daughter Barbara preferred to play with dolls that resembled adults rather than infants. Realizing that there was a gap in the market, Ruth Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company.

He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.During a trip to Germany with her daughter, Ruth Handler discovered a German doll called the Bild Lilli doll in a shop window. The adult-figured Lilli doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. The Lilli doll was based on a popular character appearing in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin for the newspaper Die Bild-Zeitung. Lilli was a fashionable society girl who knew what she wanted and was not above using men to get it. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adult men in bars and tobacco shops, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately. On her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara. The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959.

This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday. Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model", with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. One of the key changes in Barbie's design took place in 1971 when the sideways-glancing eyes of the original doll were adjusted so that the eyes glanced forwards. Today the Barbie doll is a $1.9 billion a year industry, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second. Barbie products include not only the doll with its clothes and accessories, but also a huge range of Barbie branded goods such as books, fashion accessories and video games. Barbie has appeared in a series of animated films and makes a brief guest appearance in the 1999 film Toy Story 2. Almost uniquely for a toy fashion doll, Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world.

In 1974 a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week, while in 1985 the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie. Christian Dior Barbie Barbie Biography Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, and over the years she has been given many companions, the best known being her beau Ken (Kenneth Carson), who made his debut in 1961. Barbie and Ken have a famous on-off relationship and they announced a split in 2004 which seems to have been only temporary. Other longstanding friends in Barbie's ethnically diverse social circle include Hispanic Teresa, African American Christie and Steven (Christie's boyfriend), and Kayla. For a full list of Barbie's companions, see the List of Barbie's friends and family. According to the Random House novels of the 1960s, her parents' names are George and Margaret Roberts of Willows, Wisconsin. Barbie has been said to attend Willows High School in Willows, Wisconsin and Manhattan International High School in New York City (based on the real-life Stuyvesant High School).

Barbie has thirty-eight recorded pets, including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra. She has owned pink convertibles, trailers, jeeps and more. She also holds a pilot's license, and operates commercial airliners when not serving as a flight attendant. Givenchy Barbie Barbie Controversies Barbie's popularity ensures that her effect on the play of Western children attracts a high degree of scrutiny. The criticisms leveled at her are often based on the assumption that children consider Barbie a role model and will attempt to emulate her. * In September 2003 the Middle Eastern country of Saudi Arabia outlawed the sale of Barbie dolls, saying that she did not conform to the ideals of Islam. The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stated "Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful." In Middle Eastern countries there is an alternative doll called Fulla who is similar to Barbie but is designed to be more acceptable to an Islamic market. Fulla is not made by the Mattel Corporation.

In Iran, Sara and Dara dolls are available as an alternative to Barbie. * The word "Barbie" has come to be used as a derogatory slang term for a girl or woman who is considered stupid, most famously in the song "Barbie Girl". In 1992 Mattel released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two dolls were likely to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math class is tough!" Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it caused a public outcry. * One of the commonest criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for a woman, leading to a risk that women who attempt to emulate her will become anorexic.

Critics have argued that for a woman to have Barbie's body, she would need to be 7 feet 2 inches tall, weigh 115-130 pounds, have 30 to 36 inch hips, an 18 to 23 inch waist and a 38 to 48 inch bust. Additionally, she would lack the 17 to 22 percent body fat required for a woman to menstruate. In 1997 Barbie was redesigned and given a wider waist, with Mattel saying that this would make the doll better suited to contemporary fashion designs. * "Colored Francie" made her debut in 1967, and she is sometimes described as the first African American Barbie doll. However, she was produced using the existing molds for the Caucasian Francie doll and lacked correct ethnic features other than a dark skin. The first African American doll in the Barbie range is usually regarded as Christie, who made her debut in 1968. [4] [5] Black Barbie and Hispanic Barbie were launched in 1980. * In 1997 Mattel joined forces with Nabisco to launch a cross-promotion of Barbie with Oreo cookies.

Oreo Fun Barbie was marketed as someone with whom little girls could play after class and share "America's favorite cookie." As had become the custom, Mattel manufactured both a white and a black version. Critics argued that in the African American community Oreo is a derogatory term for a person like the chocolate sandwich cookie itself, meaning that the person is black on the outside and white on the inside. The doll was unsuccessful and Mattel recalled the unsold stock, making it sought after by collectors. Barbie Parodies and lawsuits Barbie has often been referenced in popular culture and is frequently the target of parody. Some of these occasions include: * In 1997 The Danish pop-dance group Aqua released a song called Barbie Girl. It contained lyrics such as "You can brush my hair/Undress me everywhere" and used graphics similar to the pink Barbie logo. Mattel argued that this constituted a trademark infringement and filed a defamation lawsuit on September 11, 1997. The lawsuit was dismissed on May 15, 1998. * A commercial by automobile company Nissan featuring dolls similar to Barbie and Ken driving in a toy car was the subject of another lawsuit in 1997.

* Saturday Night Live aired a parody of Barbie commercials featuring the fictional "Gangsta Bitch Barbie" doll and a "Tupac Ken" doll. * The Tonight Show with Jay Leno displayed a fictional "Barbie Crystal Meth Lab" which mocked how Barbie usually has a career that is "in keeping with the times or in this case, in keeping with society's current problems." * Malibu Stacy is a parody of Barbie in the cartoon series The Simpsons. In the episode 'Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy' Lisa is disgusted by the "sexist drivel spouted by Malibu Stacy", leading her to market an alternative "Lisa Lionheart". * In 2002 a judge refused an injunction against Susanne Pitt, who had produced a doll called Dungeon Barbie which showed the doll in bondage clothing, stating "To the court's knowledge, there is no Mattel line of S&M Barbie." * In 1999 Mattel sued the artist Tom Forsythe over a series of pictures that he had produced called "Food Chain Barbie", which included a picture of a Barbie doll in a blender. Mattel lost the lawsuit and was ordered to pay $1.8 million in costs to Mr. Forsythe.

The Barbie Story - Mikesy András ELT Mikesy András ELT YouTube-videoklip Transcript Celebrate 50 years of Barbie This doll has gone through many incarnations but she always remains recognizable. Hi I'm Rebecca Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’ll be telling you the story of Barbie. Barbara Millicent Roberts otherwise known as Barbie is a doll first sold in March 1959. The character hails from Willows, Wisconsin. Barbie’s long time male companion is Ken Carson who first appeared in 1961. The couple split on Valentines Day of 2004 after 43 years together. The two remained good friends and they don’t relied a future reconciliation. Barbie has held down over 100 careers over her lifetime. Solidifying the belief that women can fill any job they like. These professions include Olympic gold medalist, singer and various types of doctors. Over the years, Barbie has lived in a number of glamorous abodes usually referred to as Barbie’s dream house. One thing all these dream houses have in common is closet space. Barbie is also a car kind of person.

She got her first ride in 1962 with the Austin Healey Convertible. Many of her later cars were also convertibles, however she also got behind the wheel of a microbus and a Volkswagen Beetle. Throughout her lifetime Barbie has held other historical events. She has also observed different cultures for example donning traditional garb as Japanese Barbie and Irish Barbie and Spanish Barbie. 2009 marked Barbie’s 50th birthday and she has never looked better. 1000+ images about #1's and # 2's on Pinterest | Ups boxes, Icons and Vintage The original 1959 Barbie Doll, Barbara Millicent Roberts, from Eve Out of The Garden : How the German Barbie Lilli became America's Fashion Barbie More Madonna vs Barbie You are using an older browser version. Please use a supported version for the best MSN experience.

Madonna vs Barbie < PREVIOUS SLIDE SLIDE 1 of 33 NEXT SLIDE > Madonna vs Barbie Vital Statistics: If Barbie were life-size, she would be 5ft 9ins tall, weigh 7st 12lbs and would measure 36-18-33.In Barbie size, her stats are: height: 11 1/2ins (29.2cms) bust: 4 3/4ins (12.1cms) waist: 3ins (7.6cms) and hips: 3 1/4in (9.5cms). © Image©Rex Features

Question: Barbara Millicent Roberts first appeared on this planet in 1959. How is she better known?
Answer: BARBIE